Times of Trenton Letters to the Editor - Jan. 7

They don’t elect to plow our street promptly

As I write this letter, it’s Sunday, Jan. 5. I am sitting in the kitchen staring out at my unplowed street. It’s two days after the storm and I can’t understand how my tax dollars can be worth less than everyone else’s. But apparently, they are, because I can’t recall a time when our street was plowed in a timely manner.

Perhaps I should realize that after living here for 26 years, the public works equipment is most visible around election time. This past election, while riding through my development on a Saturday, I noticed a street sweeper going down the middle of the street. Why would you sweep the street on a day when most people are home and yard sales are in progress? And is the driver paid overtime?

I have a solution. As property owners are responsible for clearing the sidewalks of snow and subject to fines if they don’t, then if the township fails to provide a service that we paid for, each property owner should receive a $200 tax credit. I am sure the plows would then be working nonstop.

-- John Barnosky,
Hamilton

Some conservatives insist Earth isn’t warming

The writer claimed that an article in The Guardian said the waters of the Pacific Ocean have been cooling. The article actually says that the Pacific Ocean has been absorbing heat and carbon dioxide, which has led to a dampening of global warming; therefore, it isn’t happening as quickly as scientists predicted. The article states “the thermal expansion of the oceans is likely to be the biggest factor behind sea level rise, and the absorption of carbon dioxide is making the oceans more acidic.”

Average global temperatures have been level since 1999, not “down,” as the writer claims. This data is cherry-picked from a study published last year by NASA. Extremely high temperatures have been increasing since 1999. The study concludes that global warming is happening, and that man is causing it.

Polar ice caps are not increasing in depth and area. There was an increase between the years 2012 and 2013, after years of steady loss. NASA’s website indicates that Arctic Sea ice is decreasing at a rate of 11.5 percent per decade and that land ice on Greenland is decreasing at a rate of 100 billion tons per year.

The “recent forecast by the University of Wisconsin” was published in 1993. We have 20 years of data showing that we are not entering a “neo-boreal” era like the 1650s-1800s.
America is the only country in the world where the existence of climate change is a controversy. We deny it in America based on political affiliation, not on science or observation.

-- Michael Bowe, P.E.,
Princeton

It’s not as simple as progressive vs. conservative

I offer the following in reference to David Thompson’s guest op-ed “Calling older voters — save the nation from progressives” (Jan. 4).

The notion that senior citizens are “overwhelmingly conservative” needs a little scrutiny. It is my experience that, like many others, they are “conservative” with benefits for others. As to benefits they themselves enjoy, such as Social Security and Medicare — both of which were progressive/liberal efforts and opposed by conservatives — it seems to be a different story. Hence, as suggested by many, Social Security is the “the third rail of politics.”

As to Woodrow Wilson being a racist, an honest reading of history would lead one, though perhaps with a “softer” word, to a similar conclusion. However, if Mr. Wilson had embraced current progressive/liberal philosophy and efforts at that time in our history, he would not have become governor, president of Princeton University or president of the United States. He reflected his time, its people and where he came from.

Mr. Thompson and others (mostly Republicans) use the phrase “demolish the world’s best health care system,” suggesting that is what President Barack Obama is doing in his efforts to expand health care, which so many presidents tried, unsuccessfully, before him.

Although, to anyone who has followed the health care saga, its twist and turns and the president’s efforts, the outcome is certainly not yet clear. Who is and is not responsible? When will we know? It is a myth that we have “the world’s best health care system.” We do not even have a “system”!

-- Edwin Johnson,
Ewing

Trans-Pacific Partnership gives away American jobs

Is anyone aware of the fast-track negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement (“Kerry returns to Vietnam, now as top U.S. diplomat,” Dec. 15, 2013) going on now?

The TPP is an agreement where, once again, Americans are in jeopardy of losing more jobs overseas. We need more attention for this matter. This has been another hush-hush push that Congress might not be able to block.

We cannot afford to lose more jobs. The U.S. will lose an estimated tens of thousands of jobs, according to reports by groups such as the Communications Workers of America, solely due to the inclusion of Japan and Vietnam in the TPP. It´s based after the same model that resulted in the loss of 3.4 million jobs after NAFTA, the Korean Free Trade Agreement and the inclusion of China into the World Trade Organization.

-- Bill Morra,
Manalapan

Freedom and equality cannot coexist

People keep talking about equality. In America, we’re free. Free men aren’t equal and equal men aren’t free. That’s common sense.

If they’re equal in other countries, how do they stay equal? The government controls everything.

-- Nick Petrone,
Hamilton

Dismaying features buried in health care bill

The writer of the letter “A Republican’s claims against ACA withheld half the facts” (Jan. 4) seems to base his letter on the facts.

But he should read Charles Krauthammer’s column “Stop the bailout of Obamacare — now” (Jan. 3), in which he points out the hidden facts of a bailout for Obamacare. He points out that Sections 1341 and 1342 of the bill contain, respectively, the bailout feature for the “reinsurance fund” and the “risk corridor”’ provision that mandates a major tax payout if there are insurance company losses. This all goes back to former Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s statement: “Vote for it now and find out what’s in it later.”

By not giving the minority Republican Party in both houses a chance to read and understand what the Affordable Care Act contained before the vote, the working taxpayer will eventually be penalized by paying the cost of Obamacare.